YANYUWA CANOE MAKJNU 17*

180 fc_V1.

BAKER

lime, first time

canoe

. - that first timethey been

make

them".

The Yanyuwa

barkcanoes were quite distinct

from Garawa

ones

made

totheeast,

which

were smaller

and made from

asinglepieceofbark

The Garawa

ones were only used in

calm

waters whilethe

Yanyuwa

canoes weresuited 10 therough conditions that could be encountered in voyages

from

ihe

mainland

totheir Islands.

The Yanyuwa

canoes

had rounded

sterns

and had

extra height in the

bow

tostop waves washing in.

The

^firstwrittenaccount of

Yanyuwa

barkcanoes

is contained in Flindcis' description of his voyage

around

[heSir

Edward

Pellew

Group

tn

December

1802.

He

found

on

North Islandtwo canoes

formed

ofslipsof bark,likeplanks, sewedtogether,theeJgc

of one

^slip ovet laying another, as in our clincher- built boats' (Flinders 1814, 2: 171). lie also noics that ^*theirconst ruction

was much

superior tothat

on

any other part of Terra Australis hitherto discovered'(ihid: 172)

On

thegrounds ofthissup- eriorconstruction,hequestionswhether they were

made

by Aboriginal people.

Bark canoes ot varying types were

made

across a wide area of northern Australia (see Bell 1956,

Davidson

1935,

Holland

_1976, Hornell 1940

and Thomson

1934a. J934b, 1939. 1949a. 1949b. 1952

and

1957) Bell (1956)describes

and

illustrateswith aseriesot photographs the stepsinvolved in

making

asmall bark

canoe

in the Archer River region

of Cape

York Peninsula.

Thomson

(1934a) describes theconstruction

and

use qlbark and dugout canoes in the Batavia River area of

Cape

York.

He

^con-

cludesthat the bark

canoe

is 'employed chiefly as a rivercraft, while the

wooden

outrigger

canoe

is

asea-going vessel

and

^is usedespecially ui

dugout and

^turtle hunting'

(Thomson

1934a: 229). in his

1934barticle

Thomson

gives a detailed description of the

dugout

canoes

and

the

dugong and

tunic huntingcarriedout from

them

inthe Stewart River area of eastern

Cape

York. In his I93y article he

documents

a ^localised variation of bark canoes

made

^for huntinggeese arid collecting eggs in the Arafura

Swamp

oi north central

Am hem

Land.

Thomson's

1952 article is a review ot the distri-

butionof various watererafl across northern Aust-

ralia. However, on hisdistributional

map

he incor- rectly excludes the Sir

Edward

Pellew area from having both

dugouts and

bark eanoes.

Davidson

(1935. 73), likewise, excludesthe Pellewgroup, cuing the eastern limits of

dugout

canoes as the Roper River.

Hornell (1940) presenK a world-wide survey

of canoe

tvpes

and

gives

an

unconvincing

argument

Toranevolutionary transition

from

bark canoesto

dugout

to plank boats, fie does, however, give

geQd

detailed desciiprions of three bark canoes

made

in the Borroloola area that he

saw

in Ihe South Australian,Victorian

and New

South Wales state

museums.

One

of the best descriptions Of a bark

canoe

beingconstructedis thai ot Ranfield.

He

describes

how

a

Cape

Yorkmail got the bark

Yaw

from the tree [and

how]

he

would soak

the single sheet in water

and

^whilesodden,steam itovet a

smoky

fire,

and, as it softened,

mould

it with

hand and

knee"

(I9IR: 127).

Despitetheir frailtythese bark canoes were used byIhe

Yanyuwa

to

make

lengthyseatrips. Spencer

&

^{Gilleri, whc»}were in Borroloola in 1901, describe (1912:484)a bark canoecarryingsix

men

from Van- derlin Island to Borroloola. This is a voyage of about 50

km

across the

Gulf

of Carpentaria then 50

km

up the

McArthur

River. Spencer

&

Gillen alsoincludea delailedsketchof a bark canoe(thid.

483)

and

give a description of their manufacture

iibid.' 482-484).

Tim

Rakuwurlrrta

rW

^told

^me

of a

Yanyuwa

revenee party that sailedall the way to

and

from

Massacre

Jniel in

Queensland

^tn bark canoes, a returntripofabout

400 km.

Thistripwas

made

at theturn of the century

and

as

Tim

notes,

it

was made

in paperbark canoes *nu*wiilk* . .

paddjc

him

all ihe way*

Dinny

Nyliba

McDinny

also recalled in 1986 how,

when

he

was

young, his family travelledback

and

forth inbark canoes along theGulf ofCarpentaria coastbetween

Manangoora and Robinson

River, a distance of about 100

km

each ^\\rc\y.

Spencer inhis

notebook

givesadetailed descrip- tion of

how

these bark canoes were constructed;

The siltwater

men

rmild verydecent canoes.They

^irip . , , longpiecespi bark offthebi& wattlefttui and sow them together at each end and then ihcy havealontjthinbough which formsthe_eunwal on Luch snle , . . fundwliichjareheldlightly.vOetched by meant; ofstickswhichrun acrossfromsidetoside

Some

ol thesecanoesaretwelveand fifteentea long :md will hold Ihrec or four

men

(Spencer 1901:

98,JO

Bark canoes remained in useinthearea alter the

M.Kassans

introduced

dugout

canoes,

presumably

because

of

the ease ol bark

canoe

construction, Puradiecgivesan

eNampIe

ofthecontinuing useof bark canoes, recordinga Very fine

canoe —

_twenty

kct long

—

|thail was

made

ofalarge sheetofbark' (Paradiee 1924;7j

and

includesa

photograph

ot it.

Similarly Pyro Dirjiyalma

who was bom around

1930

and who

;ejcw

up

in

Garawa

country

on

the coasttotheeastofBorroloola, recallssuch canoes

being, used but also notes thai bark Cannes were

becoming

rare !*just Abdul finished'),

when

he was young.

Tim Rakuwurltna

describes

how

a bark canoe could be

made

inonly

two

days: 'Na-wulka

I been

make

thai kind . . not hard

work

like

canoe,

him two

days ^that isall . . .

mend

Isew]

him

all the

way

^{. . ,} tie

him

quick, %ve been

mend

linn with that string now*.

VANYUWA 0\N<U- MAKING

^IM

Because of" the ease or their construction, the bark canoes could betreated in a Fairly 'disposable' manner. Brown, ^theNorthern Territory

Government

Geologist, forexample, visitedtheBorroloola area in 1907

and

described

how

a bark

canoe

was pad- dledout tomeet Lhesteamer 'and asthe

eimoe was

stovein against 'hesideofthe vessel theylei it float

away and

remained

on

board'

(Brown

J908: 6).

Brown

goes

on

to also describe{ibid: 1\

how

they Vassed canoes withblacks crossing^lheriver

on

two or three occasions',

"Whilstbark canoes

had

the advantage of quick construction they were not nearly asdurableoras safe as

dugout

canoes.

Many Yanyuwa

people can recount storiesofrelatives

drowning

as aresult of barkcanoe mishaps.

Tim Rakuwuilma,

^for

exam-

ple, describes his older brother

drowning

in

one

such incident that

Tim managed

to survive by holding onto hismother:

'My

mother, I been hold [her] shoulder all the

way

long Wulibirra country [the nearest landfall to lhe spot

where

the

canoe

sank] . . . bark

canoe

_r

no good one

^{. .} he been leak,

when no canoe

yet ^. . . behind (after),

him

been

make

(dugout canoes)'.

On

another occasion

Tim

^{told rnc, *no}

youd

bagger, plenty

men

^been

drown

. - i

more good one

Leichhardt tree, leave that

messmate canoe

now, leave

him

altogether'.

Isaac

Walayungkuma and Annie

^{Karrakaynin the} followingexchangealso stress thedangersof bark canoes

and

thecomparative advantagesof dugouts:

Isaac Walayungkuma

—

Wutganyi" hedrownedfor

Hood now, hecan'l float, no furthci. he sink right

down

^finish.

Annie Kurrakayn

—

[dugout canoes when full of water) turn him around ^. . , or sometime^{just bail}

linn

nm

quickly (indicantdoingthiibyshaking the canoes back and forth].

Auother

important advantage

which

dugouts have over bark canoes was that they are sturdy

enough

toallow the erection

ofa

mast

and

sail.

As

well as

making

thecanoes faster

and

saving

much

effort in paddling, the sails

add

tothe handling oi canoes.

The

anthropologist

Donald Thomson, who made

great use of both canoe types in his travels

ifl northern Australia, notes (1957: 19) that sails,

helpedsteady thecraft ina following,sea'. Itshould be noted, however,ihat sailsofa sort wen? used in

paperbark canoes.

A number

of people have ^des- cribed to

me

bianches being put

up

^{in paperbark} canoesassatis.

Tim Rakuwurlma

should be.given the final say

on

the disadvantages of paperbark canoes with this dramatic

comment:

When

•.omctbing hire him, shark, well he been ilmwn,eveiyhody beendrown longmiddlewaier . ,

sometime bjlftd&barK ^{. . .bite}himmakeahole. . .

whenyou goearly fellamorning, jm.ialongsea now;

shark

come

alongyou, bite him that canoe, knock

turn down, early ^fella morning he'll biteanything

Introduction or

dugout

canoes

Spencer

&

^{Cillen record both}

^{dugoui and}

messmate

^{canoes in usein the Borroloolaarea in}

1901 Aboriginal

and

historical recordsright 80TO$$

the

Top

^lind'ofthe

^Northern

^{Territorysuggest that}

productionof dugoutsdid not

commence

^untilafter

the Macassans stoppedcorning

and

supplyingthem.

Warner

(1969:45«)

and Thomson

(1937) both quote informants

who

say

dugout

canoes werenot

made

untilthe

Macassans

stopped ^bringingthem.

Thom-

son (1952: 3)

makes

the

same

point but in

more

general terms

and

doesnot

mention

the informant.

Warner

goes

on

to suggest that in the area

where

he was

working

(north-eastern

Arnhem

Land), people ^{reverted to using} paperbark canoes ^for a whileuntil they learned

how

toconstruct dugouts from Aboriginal peoplefrom (he English

Company

Islands. Worstey ^{(1954: 61-62)}

from

his

work on

GrooteEylandt, alsoconcludes that dugout canoes were obtained from the

Macassans and

^not

made

until after ihev stopped their visits to northern Australia

Heath

(1980: 532) presents a

Nung- gubuyu

text (from the Roper River area) thai dc scribes

how

bark canoes were used ^first

and

that the dugouts were introduced ^{later as} a result of

Maeassan

^contact.

Tim

Rakuwurlrna's account ^givento

me

^{in 1983}

supports this suggestion;

My

^{father, messmate [canoe], him been have lint}

time. By andby,he been thinkabout

w*,

^himbeer.

tindbigtreethere, Leichhardttree,alongislandalpnfc

him ^ixtmiUv 1 think III cut him*

1 been big boy, ^I rj&vtr had corronorree along tin yei (hehadnutbeenthroughcircumcisioninitiation

ceremouvj Thai bigI been[indicatedabout lOyears old] and old Banjo Ihis older brother] was there.

'I think ^Iwanl ku'uthim canoe alongyou two1'clla,

wegui tomake himcanoelitutlibfT. Hitn beenlalf.

'We've pot to

make

him ^libaliba', 'Go on'.

'Yeah I been look that

mob

from Groote Dyteniat.

Iiu-ura

mob

been learn me'.

Qtq ^!elki been leatn him

my

lather long Groote Eylandt people. bluUlella \yi,en tr-em been

come

atony thai big bo41 Maluy'"' men, coloured men.

Th.il

mob

been learn him. him

cm

^{[the dugoui}

caiu>e| himself ^, . . long tomahawk.

The

^first

Yanyuwa-made dugout canoe

was constructed well inland

and

as

Tim

describes, ~wc all been pull

him down

... all the

way

[to the COasl]* ^In 1987

Tim

told

me

Lhis M.ory again

and

alter noting thattheearlycjnoes were

made from

a Leichhardt Pine, says lea-tree{Melaleucasp.)thai

one

behind [after],

we been

cutthai kind

when my

father been finished ^{. . -}

when no more

Leichhardt tree there longisland,

my

father been finish

them

up.

We

been

go

along

McArthur

River higher up'.

Using Tim's

mention of

his age in the above quote, this first Yanvuwa-rnadedugout can bedated to

about

1910.

This corresponds

with ibe information presenred by

Warner and Thomson

that canoes were not constructed until after the

Macassans

stopped coming.

The

lastvoyage

made

by the

Maeassans

ro Australia

was

in 1906-1907

(Mackrught

1976: 126). Further support for this

[lOst-Macassan commencement of canoe

construction

comes from

Stretton's 1189?)

comments on how

Aboriginalpeople

on

Vanck-rlin Islandobtained theircanoes. Writing inthedecade before the

Macassan

^visits stopped he notes that

'Ihe Vandcrlin ^tribe arc expert canoeists,

and

are possessed of

some

very fine

canoes made

out of solid trees,

which

have been left behind by the Malays'(Stretton 1893; 228),

He makes no

mention of the

Yanyuwa

building their

own dugout

canoes.

The

rise

and

decline of

Yanyuwa canoe making Yanyuwa canoe making

probably reached a peak

in the 1930s

and

1940s

when,

with ready access to

European

metal tools, a large

number

were

made.

Several of the

European

residents in Borroloola

commissioned

canoes

and

these were

sometimes

used rotransportstores

up

the

McArthur

River

The

canoes carried the supplies

upstream from

the lauding

some

30

km downstream where

thecoastal supply boat unloadedthecargo.

The

^{vital part}these

Europeans

provided in the construction of ibe canoes

was

the supply, as payment,

of

preservable food suchas flour.

As Tim Rakuwurlma

observes, canoes took a long time to

make and

the

canoe makers

weredependent

on

others toprovide

them

withfood duringthe period they were workingfull time;

Might

bethree

weeks

. . , longtime

no

tucker

. | but this time big

mob

oftucker flour',

Tim

goes

on

to note

how

he

made

canoes with food being provided bya

European

called Havey

and compares

thisfood source with that his fatherlived

on when

he

made

canoes. 'Charlie

Havey

alia[always] send tucker for

me

^{. . .} get a bag

of Hour

allthe

way

^{. . .}

my

father been cut a

canoe and

he been

bad munja

^{13 . , .}

^cooked

by

my mother

¹,

It

was

not only

Europeans who commissioned

canoes, Aboriginal people also

eommissioneU

canoes from a

number of

expertcanoe makers.

The

terms

of

this trade included supplying the

maker

with food duringthe construction phase

and

then givinga proportion offoodcaught from thecanoe for

sometime

afterwards. Steve

Johnson

describes

Mac

Riley

making

canoes 'for trade'

and

says he got hall the catch for the first six

months

of the

canoe'slifeas partpayment,

Tim Rakuwurlma

also describes

how Mac made him

a

canoe and

sentit

down

from

Mara

country(tothe north-west)to

him and how

hekepi the

Mara name

giventothiscanoe;

*l been

buy nun

long blanket . , .

him

been

make him

longhiscountry ^. . , TJayilmalkulma*, . that

mob Mara [named

it] ... I been keep

name

they been call

him

that way'-

Mac

is also

mentioned

in theWelfare

Department

files (Australian Archives 1952} as having

made

(with others) five canoes in 1952.

Tim Rakuwurlma who

supplied

me

^with

much

of

my

information

on Yanyuwa

canoes, was apar- ticularly

renowned canoe

maker.

As

Ted

Egan

re-

counts:

OK' Tim was always working ona canoe - i . Meat

it

down

. . . half

make

it andeithercarryit orfinal

h toabeach andfinish il there^{. .} he wasreferred io as

much

by the term the ⁽canu* man* as tild Tim'.'⁴

Egan

also recalls

how

a

European

boar

would

sometimes tow dugout canoes:

They

had about ten lunoes

when

i

was

there. Jack Bailey

had

a wonderfuloldchug

chug

boat and lackwouldoften pull a string of canoes

up

the river'.

The South

Australian film maker,

Roy

Vysc, visited BorroloolainJuly 1954

and

describes¹⁵

how

'hunting is

done from dugout

canoesof

which them

area largenumber*.

A

missionary based in Borro- loola describe*

how

in 1958 *a partyofsixteen had

left*Borroloolatopick

up

'aboutelevencanoes'that

had

been

made

at

one

location that year

(Mam

1958: 15). Kettle(1967; 95) reportsseeing14dugout canoesat Borroloola in 1955.

An

interesting burst of

canoe making

occurred ⁱⁿ I96J

when

the Yan-

yuwa

were

moved

by the Welfare

Branch

to

Dan- gana on

the

Robinson

^River.16

Musso Harvey

recalls

how

six canoes were

made

in the seven or eight

months

people lived there

and how

"we all

(camcj sailing back* to Borroloola.

Yanyuwa

people also

made

canoes

when

they were

away from

Borroloola

working on

cattle sta- tions.

Some

stations provided readyaccesstosuit- able largetrees.

The

residential quarters

on many

statfoOS ⁱⁿ {he region are located

on

springs that are lined with tall trees.

Hence

there

was

ihe opportunityto

work on

canoesduringslackperiods of the cattle work-

As

Jean Kirton¹⁷ recalls, ihe

Yanyuwa would

often

come

back

from

the cattle stations

on

trucks with

new

canoes:

When

they came back there, maybe two or three canoe*,would

come

bach antheback:*ofthetfurU

. , . therewereallkindot ioodthings-SBQCteieclwith thecomingot theWtAsci^on,all therelativescoming back and new canoes coming hack with them.

J \NYI_ \VA

CANOU MAKING m

Canoe

constructionbegantodecrease in the party 1960sasthe

Yanyuwa

began lohave (becashto buy Huropean

aluminium

dinghies.

The

last canoebuilt by the

Yanyuwa

for(.heir

own

usewas

made

by *0(d

DhuhV

^{in 1977} at Ryan's Bend. This particular canoe was

commissioned

by

Tim Rakuwurlma and

stayed in use until 1981. Ar the

end

of

one days work on

^,,Rra-Kalwanvitna!a^,

Annie Karrakayn

remarked

how

all the old canoe

makers

"been die now"

and

that

tw younger canoe makers had

replaced

them

'because they

had

the dinghy now.

while Telia dinghy'.

Use of

dugout

canoes

ll ispossible to

document

long voyages

made

by the ttinyuwa in dugoui canoes.

Pyro

DirdivaJma described

how

a relative used to travel all the

way

10 Buikciown in a

dugout canoe

(adistanceofover 400

km

each way)

looking

for tobacco¹.

Don McLean

^told

mc

of a

round

trip ofover 500

km

he

made

in adugout canoewiththree

Yanyuwa men

in 1943 to

and

from Crootc Oylandt. People also travelled from Borroloola to

Numbulwar

(250

km

to the norih-wi'si_), indugoui canoes toattendcere- monies. AsSteve

Johnson

recalls,wheneverpossible such trips

would

have involved sailing

and

not paddling:

lheysailedthemwhenihewind wasfavourable,they neverpaddled becausetheywantedto. Mostofihcm wattedforthewindto

come

theriR.ruwaybeforethey evenstart. Probablysit (here for aweek wailingtor favourable weather ^{.. .} unless ihey were in a hurry thereisno wayihey'd paddleagainst it. But ifthey were mil there and got caughl,

some

ofthem old fellaseou'dpaddle^lordayswiifcout getting offthat paddle.

As

well as being _a

means

^ot transport, dugout canoes played

an

important rote in the

Yanyuwa economy.

This

Mas

particularlythe case with turtle

and dugong

hunting. It should be noted,however, that older

Yanyuwa

individuals are

adamant

that people did hunt

dugong

ant! turtle from bark canoesⁱⁿ ihc"old days'.

As Tim

Kakuwurlrna notes:

'Theybeen

make him messmate

tree, bark (canoe

J

... big

mob dugong

killer, black fella, right

up

long

Wunubarryi

[100

km

north-westofBorro!oola|\ It is

conceded

however thatthe

dugout

is far superior for hunting

due

to its greater si/.e

and

stability.

Indeedthe

dugout

Is in

many

ways superiorto the

aluminium

dinghies,

powered

by

outboard

engines used today.

As Mick

Pollard recalls, Tyson

Walayungkurua

told

him how dugout

canoes were

supenor

for

dugong

huntingasin *thern

aluminium

boat,

you go

out

and

^{yotit toenail} touch that floor,

them dugong go

lor

one

mile'.

Dugong

are

renowned

^{for their acute} hearing. In a canoe ^.1 huntercouldsilentlygJideoverherdsofturtles

and dugongs and

literallytakehispick. Today, however, hunting in

aluminium

boatsinvolves ahair raising high speed chaseas thehuntersattempt to outrun the turtle

and

dugong. The canoes also obviously have theadvantage of not requiring fuel.

Today

it isquitealogisticeffort to carry

enough

fuel to

make

thelongtrip

down

the

McArthur

Rivet,go hunting

and

^still have

enough

fuel10return to Botroloola.

Another

disadvantage of

outboard powered

dinghies is the lact that the occupants usually gel covered with spray

when

travelting, in them.

The

following

Yanyuwa

terms are given for the crew of a

dugout

canoe.

The

person behind,sitting

on

the duladala (Fig. 3)

was

called

ramangka

ngulakuri, the personin thefront ol (he

canoe was

calledngurrungii

and

theperson inthemiddle

was

called a-kuyila

wumbiji

However,

when

hunting

dugong and

turtlein thepast in

dugout

canoes or today in

aluminium

dinghies, different

names

are used forthe person al the front

and

at Ihe back of the canoe.

The dugong

hunter in the front

armed

withthe

harpoon and

lookingfor

dugong

is

known

asmaranja. Thisperson^indicates with

hand

signals

which way

the

wungkayi (who

is silting behind) should paddle.

Dugong

hunterstookgreat careot theirhunting equipment,

When on

huntingtrips, ropeswerecare- fully coiled so they

would

not get tangled

and

^the

harpoon

was

mounted on

the sideofthecanoewith nails holding ^it in place.

The harpoon

was placed

on

theright-handsideofthecanoe forright-handed hunters

and on

theleft side torleft-handed hunters.

Dugongs and

turtles were often hunted at night, with thehunter following thephosphorescent trails left in the

wake

of Ihe animals,

Such

night rime huntingtripscould bequitelong

and young

child- ren were often taken out

and bedded down

^{for ;>}

night's sleep inthecanoe.

On

colddryseason nights another advantageof dugout canoes

was

that a fire

couldbe lil in thecanoe.

As

SteveJohnson told

me

They used to havea tiregoing (here fonja big flat

rock 01 sheet of iron and a bii of

mud

on it clay, havea tiregoing thereall day. T'hey'J he paddlim;

down

thenverandyou'dseesmokein (heboat. .

.

they- usedtoeven cooka feed,cook afish or some- thing like that ... ifthey went our fora long trip

. . they'd takeabitofextra

wood

with them,ihey'c anchor allday out (here wailing for thedugongto

comebackin fromihedeeperwater,Ifthey hadsome

fish they'd cook that up, ihey lived like kings uiH there. . . hoitthebilly . . they'dcooka fewcrabs.

II was thejob ofthe person in ihe middle pTthe canoe, thea-kuyilawumhiji, to keepthe fireburn-

ing.Thesefiresserved thedual functionsofcooking

and

keeping people

warm.

Isaac

Walayungkuma